Fairtrade Update

The Fairtrade Group at Cumbernauld Old is reinstating the monthly Fairtrade stall.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2023 has recently finished and in recognition of this annual celebration of ethical trade, we hope to revitalise our commitment as a Church to support and promote the values of fairer trading practice.

On Sunday 26th March members of the Fairtrade Group will be participating in our worship service and you will have the opportunity to purchase your Fairtrade favourites at the end of the service.

Going forward, we hope to have the Fairtrade stall available on the last Sunday of every month and we look forward to seeing you there.

Warm Space initiative

In partnership with Cornerstone and the Village Community Council, Cumbernauld Old has been invited by North Lanarkshire Council to participate in setting up a ‘welcome space’ for local residents from November 2022 to March 2023.

The Council will provide all the funding necessary and propose to open the small hall in The Wynd every Thursday from 12.30 -14.30 to serve soup and sandwiches provided by Cornerstone and, if possible, re-open from 16.00 – 18.00 to offer an early evening snack. It will be a place where people can enjoy some company and come together to “seat, eat and heat”.

Details have still to be finalised, but for it to go ahead it needs the help of the wider community; it needs men and women to volunteer to staff the sessions. Hopefully, enough people will come forward to make up a rota so that the commitment does not become too much of a burden.

If you want more details, please leave us a note as soon as possible and we’ll pass it on. Your help would be really appreciated.

Krafting for Ukraine

Members and friends of Cumbernauld Old Parish Church have been knitting and crocheting beautiful handmade items on behalf of the DEC Ukrainian appeal. They consist of colourful lap blankets, small traditional ‘Victorian’ dolls, favourite character dolls and children’s’ cardigans, available to buy for a minimum donation of £5.
The dolls’ clothes and pram blankets are available at £4, the three larger dolls with a minimum donation of £7 and a beautiful Aran hat glove and scarf set at £10. Delivery is free in Cumbernauld.

They make beautiful gifts and your donations will help families in war-torn Ukraine.
Telephone Elizabeth at (01236) 726451 for more details or to order.

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Fairtrade and Fellowship

After our Fairtrade-themed service at Cumbernauld Old Parish Church on Sunday 8th March, we will be holding the first of our “Fairtrade and Fellowship” ‘warm welcome’ events. These will take place about four times throughout the year and will always co-ordinate with a Fairtrade stall. We invite those attending worship to stay in Church after our service on Sunday to enjoy Fairtrade tea / coffee / home baking and to engage in Fellowship with your Church family. Please also take the opportunity also to visit our Fairtrade stall.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2019

On Sunday 10th March Cumbernauld Old Parish Church will celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight with a service dedicated to raising awareness of the need for ethical trade. We will be welcoming a visitor from Gavin’s Mill, who will share with us the ethos that sits behind the wide-ranging role that this Fairtrade shop / café plays within the Fairtrade community.

As well as our regular Fairtrade stall we will be offering Fairtrade teas / coffees and home-baking in Church after our service. The Fairtrade group looks forward to seeing you then.

Images of South Africa

On Tuesday 18th September the speaker at Cumbernauld Old Parish Church Men’s Group will be Joyce Bell from Alva.

Joyce is a nurse at Strathcarron Hospice and, over the years, she and her colleague Caroline have visited South Africa to work with a number of local groups on a variety of health issues, especially HIV and AIDS. They have been sponsored by their local Church of Scotland congregation in Alva and became involved in this project through their association with Graham & Sandra Duncan, who are also our Mission Partners.

Because of our continuing relationship with Sandra and Graham, and the support we give them through our Mission Circle, the Men’s Group has extended an invitation to everyone in the congregation to come along at 7.30pm on Tuesday 18th and hear about the work that Joyce and Caroline have done in South Africa.

Cornerstone Food Bank update

Cumbernauld Old Parish Church were delighted to receive the following letter from the Food Bank team at Cornerstone House recently:

Thank you all once again for your partnership and fantastic Christmas donations of food, gifts and money in December and throughout 2017.

We received over 1700 referrals between our two Food Banks in 2017, and put out over 130 extraordinary food hampers, gifts and toys in the Christmas week alone.

It is a blessing to us all in seeing what can be achieved in our own communities when the people of God work together.

Thank you for all the effort everyone puts in to make this ministry work. We look forward to what the Lord is going to do in 2018.

God bless, Norma Cowan

April 2018 will mark the third anniversary of the opening of the Village Food Bank at the Parish Church and we are delighted have forged such close links with the Bethlehem House of Bread, which operates out of Cornerstone House. The Food Bank in the Village is open each Friday from 11am – 12.30pm.

Come On In to Fairtrade

This year, Cumbernauld Old Parish Church will be supporting Fairtrade Fortnight when we will be inviting people to ‘Come On In’ and see what Fairtrade is all about.

Put simply, Fairtrade is about ensuring producers and workers in the developing world get better prices and decent working conditions; it therefore supports local sustainability and fair terms of trade.